Donald Critchlow The Conservative Ascendancy Analysis

The New Deal era is often cited as the time when the federal government began to assume its modern form. It was a time of unprecedented government intervention and in many ways changed the way Americans viewed government. After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, it was clear that the government was going to take immediate action. Anthony Badger’s The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940 is an outstanding summary of some of the most difficult, yet important, years in American history.

In the years following World War I, the United States was comfortable with returning to its prior state of traditional values. In the government, this was reflected as the 1920 election was won by Republican candidate Harding, who ran with the slogan “A Return to Normalcy.” Americans simply wanted to recuperate after the intense global conflict that had just ended; however, changing and new attitudes were at battle with their desire of normalcy. It was movements like “New Morality” that contested traditional stances of those who sought security in their lives. As a result of the constant battle between old and new values, tensions were mounting between citizens. The Roaring Twenties was a time of innovation in American life; however, tensions surfaced between traditional and new values, shown through court rooms, national politics, grass roots campaigns, and media revolutions, due to a rise in differing theological views, women’s fight for independence, racial conflict, technology, and advertising.

Beginning in the early 1920’s, America found itself in a frenzy of revolutionary movements that would shift the everyday lives of American citizens and pave the way to the modern era. A struggle between old ideas of conservatism and new liberal movements surfaced during the “roaring twenties”. The new movements that began rearing their heads during this time period consisted of liberal political ideas, the advancements of rights for the common man and woman, and reforms to our social culture.

The Great Depression quickly altered America's view of liberalism and therefore, Roosevelt can be considered a liberal and Hoover a conservative, despite the fact that they did occasionally support very similar policies. The United States experienced political shifts during the Great Depression, which are described by Arthur Schlesinger’s analysis of eras in which public objectives were placed before personal concerns. It seems that the public view of what constitutes as liberal beliefs versus what is thought to be conservative beliefs shifts in a similar way.

A key turning point in American politics was the election of 1980. It indicated the new electoral power of the suburbs. The success that Reagan had as a conservative would initiate a group of parties because liberals and conservatives would either leave politics or change party affiliations through 1980 's and 1990 's. The research shows this caused the 1980 election to be recalled as one of America 's best historical events.

In his inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the tone for the upcoming half century when he confidently said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. In response to the economic collapse of the Great Depression, a bold and highly experimental fleet of government bureaus and agencies known as Roosevelt’s Alphabet Soup were created to service the programs of the New Deal and to provide recovery to the American people. The New Deal was one of the most ambitious programs in American history, with implications and government programs that can still be seen to this day. Through its enactment of social reform and conservation programs, the New Deal mounted radical policies that gave the federal government unprecedented power in the nation’s economy and society, however, the New Deal did not bring America out of the Great Depression and could be considered conservative in the context of the era, ultimately saving capitalism from collapsing in America.

The political shifts in American history during the last two centuries are often explained by Arthur Schlesinger's cyclical explanation of eras of public purpose followed by private interest. What is considered liberal versus what is considered conservative shifts in a similar pattern. While laissez-faire policies are considered liberal in the Roaring 20's, the onset of the Great Depression in

Consequently, the failures of the policies of liberal presidents like Carter and the success of conservatives like Reagan lead to the resurgence of conservatism.

The Great Depression drastically changed America's definition of Liberalism. Prior to the onset of the depression, in the roaring twenties, policies of laissez-faire were considered liberal, radical, revolutionary, and even democratic. This was due to the fact that revolution was a horrifying notion and not until after the laissez-faire and the system of free market fails in the 1920's do people begin to look about for alternatives. The time when people starting to seek alternatives was at the onset of the depression when America's political views drastically change. As the Great Depression, started in 1929, America began to view conservatives as following the policies of social Darwinism, laissez-faire, and having

The New Right has significantly revised the relationship between conservatism and tradition, however. The New Right attempts to fuse economic libertarianism with state and social authoritarianism. As such, it is a blend of radical, reactionary and traditional features. Its radicalism is evident in its robust efforts to dismantle or ‘roll back’ interventionist government and liberal social values. This radicalism is clearest in relation to the liberal New Right, which draws on rational theories and abstract principles, and so dismisses tradition. New Right radicalism is nevertheless reactionary in that both the liberal and conservative New Right hark back to a 19th century ‘golden age’ of supposed economic prosperity and moral fortitude. However, the conservative New Right also makes an appeal to tradition, particularly through its emphasis on so-called ‘traditional values’.

The challenge to a variety of political and social issues distinctly characterizes the post World War II (WWII) era, from the mid 1940’s through the 1970’s, in the United States. These issues included African-American civil rights, women’s rights, the threat of Communism, and America’s continuous war effort by entering the Cold War immediately after the end to WWII. These debated issues led to the birth of multiple social movements, collectively referred to as the New Left, rooted in liberalism. In response to the New Left, a strong brand of conservatism, collectively referred to as the Right, arose to counteract these movements. Despite opposing ideology and convictions,

The notion of American conservatism has been around roughly since the conception of The United States. Once refined in the U.S. Constitution in September of 1787, what had been left up to speculation was now set as guidelines for the flourishing country. There was always separation in beliefs between American’s, but the constitution truly outlined what America could build upon. This is where American conservatism really came into effect. Conservatism as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica is “a political doctrine that emphasizes value of social tradition institutions and practices.” Simply meaning that this ideal represented America’s freedom - instilling that the country should always be run by ‘We The People’ as stated in the preamble to the Constitution. Once interpreted more as a preference as to how American’s could live their life, Conservatism has transformed into a distinct lifestyle at which many American’s follow today. With the notable growth of Conservatism it was only imminent that differing divisions of this practice would spark up. The differing ideologies, however, would only be separated by minimalistic technicalities. Although copious different interpretations do exist, many can be synthesized to the same ideas. Ronald P. Formisano’s The Tea Party: A Brief History underscores the significance of holding America to it’s standards set by the documents written by the Founding Fathers.

For many conservative scandals sent a clear signal that the government couldn’t promote freedom nor solve problems and that the Liberal government of the New Deal and Great Society had to be stopped.

In the 1970s, the United States suffered an economic phenomenon that resulted in heightened unemployment, inflation, and a recession. President Richard M. Nixon was in office for majority of the decade, the economy was in turmoil, and the citizens were feeling less united. The recession at the beginning of the decade, mid-way through Nixon’s first presidential term, paved the way for the economic devastation to come. A third of the way through the decade, was the result of the worst combination of disasters for any economy to date. The most notorious White House scandal and an attempt to regain control of the market topped the most remembered list of the 1970s, followed by another recession. The 1970’s is a decade for the record books.

In the book, “The Fractured Republic” the author, Yuval Levin tells of how he is a strong conservative, but he looks at both sides of our country's dysfunctional political polar division in this perceptive look at the country’s acute crisis of social fragmentation. This book describes how striving for a finer future means to not glamorize the past. In Levin’s view he believed conservative values seemed to come from the early 1980’s, more specifically 1981. The year Ronald Reagan was put into office as President of the United States. On the other hand the Democrats hold onto the year 1965. At this point Lyndon B Johnson campaign against poverty and racial injustice was booming. Levin argues that neither party has the direct answer to the most pressing contemporary challenges facing the US.